Agence France-Presse,
BEIJING: China's first nuclear weapons base has been declassified and opened to tourists, state media said Thursday.
The base in Qinghai province was the birthplace of the country's atomic bombs, the Xinhua news agency reported.
“The underground headquarters of the nuclear weapons research and production base are a curiosity to many people,” Zuo Xumin, an official from the area, was quoted as saying.
“They can see the 'nuclear city' for themselves,” he said.
The headquarters of the base, built in 1958, comprised eight large underground rooms built with reinforced concrete.
The base, which stretched over 1,100 square kilometres (425 square miles), was shut in 1987 until its resurrection as a tourist venue.
